Camping
by Lady Lanera
Summary: A forgotten anniversary leads to a surprise in the woods.


**Disclaimer:** All_ Harry Potter _characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I just give my own personal twist to Aurora Sinistra since we don't know that much about her.

**_A/N:_ **Definitely diverges from Rowling's canon, like all of my other fics for the most part. Enjoy the romantic comedy that features Aurora and Severus. :D Many thanks to DaughterOfAres for keeping me writing and pointing out my mistakes. Without her, most of my stories wouldn't have been published.

**Camping**

Severus knew the moment he saw the familiar owl that his day was officially ruined now. Of course any day that included his mother was a horrendous day for him usually. She just had that talent. As the owl glided through the opened window, he bit back his sigh and forced his face to remain neutral. It wasn't the damn bird's fault after all. Like him, the owl was just another victim in the pathetic mind games that his mother loved to play.

Carefully untying the string wrapped around the screech owl's leg, he removed his mother's rolled-up message. A dozen scenarios flashed through his mind briefly. Each one was more gruesome than the previous one. Then again, his mother had that talent as well. To this day in fact, he knew that some of his former schoolteachers still shuddered whenever his mother was mentioned in passing.

One truly did not forget an encounter with Eileen. It was similar in his mind, and likely everybody else's too, to meeting a rabid three-headed dog actually. While a person could possibly survive the encounter with the three-headed dog, with his mother, however, the odds were slim. If it wasn't her acerbic tongue that cut someone as deep as a machete, it was most certainly her hard physical hits. To this day, he still flinched whenever she'd hit him upside the head.

Unrolling the parchment a moment later, he quickly skimmed his mother's message before he swallowed and hung his head. Once again, she didn't disappoint. Jumping off the Astronomy tower sounded good right about then. However, he drew in a slow, calming breath. He wouldn't give the old woman the satisfaction in knowing that she had succeeded in her frequent torture ritual.

At the sound of his private laboratory's door opening, he glanced at it and watched a curly-haired woman in long navy robes walk in. _Aurora. _His shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Something wrong, Severus?" Aurora softly asked, crossing her arms across her chest as she leaned against the stone wall.

He scoffed and shrugged in response. What wasn't wrong at this point, he thought glumly. He soon caught her warm brown eyes narrowing on him in obvious confusion mixed with concern. He forced his emotions back, knowing that he had to be cool-headed for this conversation.

"Mother decided to write me today," he quietly admitted. He was thankful when he saw her immediate look of understanding. Number 492 of things he loved about Aurora.

"Oh."

"Indeed." He turned away and glanced towards his forgotten potion that was simmering in the large cauldron next to him. Judging by the potion's color, he knew he had forgotten to add the porcupine quills. As if his day could get any worse.

When he felt the slender hand on top of his a moment later, he turned his hand and quickly slipped his hand into hers. It still amazed him how perfect her hand fit in his. If he was another man, he'd have used that as a corny pick-up line to seduce her. As it was, all he had to do was open his eyes and see her, truly see her just that once, to realize that she'd given her heart to him long ago.

Thoroughly enjoying their quiet simple moment between them, he saw the woman whom he had fallen for all those months ago once more. How could he have ever not seen this beautiful woman in front of him? Had he truly been that blind because of Evans? He snorted in his head. Obviously.

His eyes drank in every bit of her as his mind went through all the things he loved about her. Her smile that lit up the entire room. Those gorgeous brown eyes that warmed his heart like no Warming Charm could ever hope to accomplish. Her dark curls that practically begged him to twirl his fingers around. Those kissable lips that he never wanted to pull back from and so much more.

"So," she said quietly, "do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head. "No."

"Well, is there anything I can do to help?"

"Unlikely." He could see the frustration building in her face. Then again, Aurora always wanted to fix everything that was wrong in the world. If there was a skunk who couldn't use his defense mechanism properly, she'd be the first one trying to help the poor creature, regardless if she was later sprayed or not as thanks for her troubles. Their relationship was rather . . . interesting at times clearly. He bit back a sigh and thought on his mother's letter for a second as he planned what to do next.

"Oh." Her face fell for a moment before she quickly recovered.

It was a wonder why she stayed with him some days. Frankly in his opinion, she deserved so much better than him. He hated seeing her force her hurt back because of him. It wasn't fair to her. Then again, life wasn't fair as he knew firsthand. The longer he watched her struggle with her hurt, the more he wanted to make her feel better. The suggestion was out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

"Perhaps I could see you again this weekend?"

She blinked in surprise. "I-I don't understand."

He bit back his sarcastic remark instantly. Sarcasm, he had recently learned, never worked when it came to women. They usually misunderstood and took it horribly. Or perhaps that was just Aurora. He wasn't certain since he truthfully didn't have all that much experience when it came to the opposite sex.

"If you're agreeable, you and I could have dinner together possibly?" He watched her face light up immediately. She smiled brighter than the sun.

"Don't we already sort of have plans together this weekend, though, Severus?"

Now it was his turn to be confused. Had he made plans with her already? Judging by the growing suspicion on her face, he had. Thanks to years of lying to the Dark Lord, he quickly forced a polite smile to his face and did his best "I will not be caught in a lie" face.

"Of course. I was merely checking to see if that had changed," he smoothly lied. "Sometimes things come up at the last minute." Like his mother's letter for one.

She laughed. "If you don't want to—"

"No, Aurora. I assure you that I most certainly want to have dinner with you."

"Just dinner?" she asked with that playful smile of hers. "I was promised much more than that."

He stood a bit taller then and inclined his head respectfully. Just what the hell had he promised her exactly and why couldn't he recall it? "Do not concern yourself. I am a man of my word after all." He forced himself not to tense when she gently touched his arm.

"I know you are, love. I can't wait to see what you've come up with for our romantic weekend." She then turned on her heels and left the room.

The moment Aurora was out of sight and out of hearing range, he groaned and let his forehead rest against the cool stone. He was doomed.

* * *

After retelling the whole sordid affair to Minerva McGonagall, Aurora's mentor and more importantly mother-figure in her life, Severus stopped pacing in the large office and glanced at the older witch. He could see the woman battling with herself to keep from smiling.

"It's not funny," he groused.

"Oh, trust me. It is," McGonagall replied with a soft amused laugh. She shook her head a moment later, still smiling. "Why didn't you just tell her that you forgot?"

With his eyes on the Persian rug to ensure that he avoided the witch's green eyes, he continued pacing silently. He truthfully thought that answer was rather obvious. Even Longbottom could figure that one out in his opinion.

"Severus?" she quietly said.

He ignored McGonagall, though. To voice that answer was—she might as well have asked him why the sky was blue for all the good that would do him. He swallowed when he saw the shadow in front of him.

"Answer me. Why didn't you just tell her you forgot?"

"Because I had already disappointed her once, all right?!" he snapped, his famous temper showing itself once more.

"How?" McGonagall made no mention of his loss of temper.

"It doesn't matter."

"On the contrary, it does too matter. Now, answer me, Severus. Why do you think you disappointed her?"

He stopped for half a moment and glared at the older woman. "You honestly do not know?" He scoffed and shook his head in disgust. "She could have any man she wanted, and what does she do? Throws her life away for me. A pathetic git who has never been on a date before, much less had a real meaningful relationship with someone."

McGonagall shrugged silently. "She told me that her dates with you are enjoyable."

He sneered and clicked his tongue. "Hardly."

"Now, come, Severus. They couldn't have been _that_ bad."

He stopped once more and whirled around towards her. "Oh no? Tell me, Minerva. Have you ever been on a date with someone who poured elf-wine on your lap, having missed the glass you were holding out?"

She smiled softly. "You were nervous. It happens."

"Nervous," he said disgustedly. "Our second date we ended up having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Did she inform you as to why?"

"No, but she's—"

He quickly cut off McGonagall. "I cooked a small duck for us. I've cooked hundreds of times before with my conventional oven, so it should have been a piece of cake." His glare deepened as his anger with himself bubbled up to the surface. "When I went to serve the damn thing, it was as black as my robes and as dry as one of Binns's lectures."

"Severus—"

"No." He growled and stamped the floor with his foot. "You will listen." He gave her one of his fiercest glares. "Our third date. I prepared the food ahead of time and had it all set out on the table for us. It was to be a candlelit dinner of course. To play into one of her asinine romantic fantasies. All I had to do was a simple snap of my fingers to light the candles. Guess what occurred?" He snorted when she opened her mouth. "I damn near burned my damn rooms down with us inside it! One of the flames from a candle was so high that it caught a part of the drapes somehow and went up like a Roman candle."

The Head of Gryffindor was nearly sobbing as she withheld her giggles. "Stop. Please. Dear Merlin, Severus, stop."

"I'm glad you find amusement in my pain, witch," he growled.

"Oh, Severus," she smiled. "It's just a bad case of the nerves. You'll move past it."

"When? When I finally manage to kill us?" He huffed. "And now she's expecting a romantic weekend of all things."

"Is that so bad?"

He whirled around, throwing his arms up into the air. "Yes!" he practically yelled. "She might as well have asked me to walk a tightrope blindfolded with my hands tied behind my back."

She snorted. "Must you always be so melodramatic? Surely it won't be _that_ bad."

He leveled his intense glare on her once more before he crossed his arms. "I nearly killed us the last time I attempted this stupid fantasy of hers. But perhaps you're right. Perhaps killing us is truly romantic. After all, it worked _brilliantly_ for Romeo and Juliet," he drawled with a clipped tone.

"Then don't go all out for this weekend. Keep it simple."

"That's your advice?" He shook his head with a disgusted sigh. "I knew coming to you would be a mistake." He then lowered his voice and mumbled, "As if you know anything about romance."

"Excuse me?" She quickly jabbed him in the chest with her finger. "I'll have you know, Mister Snape, that I was being wooed while you were still suckling at your mother's breast."

He winced instantly and took a step back from her, turning away.

"I'm merely stating the fact that you've not experienced the asinine romantic rituals lately." At the feel of her cold green eyes on him, he closed his eyes. Perhaps on second thought he should just flee and save what was left of his shattered dignity.

"Then by all means, Severus, continue. I _so_ look forward to hearing Aurora's thoughts on the matter on Monday." She smiled thinly at him like a cat sizing up her mouse.

Knowing he had lost the war, he whirled around and headed for the door to leave. He had no desire to end up being lunch for her today. After all, he knew when Aurora was done with him, or his mother for that matter, he'd be praying to whomever above to get him out of this fine mess he was in.

He threw open the door. This weekend would be a disaster. An utter tragedy of his own making.

"Just keep it simple," McGonagall called after him. He merely slammed the door shut behind him, though. _Honestly_. What did the old woman know about romantic relationships anyway? She hadn't had one in decades by his estimate. _No_. Clearly he'd just have to consult his books on this one. They had never failed him at least.

* * *

Tossing the heavy tome against the wall, he growled fiercely as he paced in his private potions lab. He had spent four hours reading every book that he could think of that would give him some insight, some clue on how to proceed. Of course he ignored that annoying voice in the back of his head that kept repeating that he should just tell Aurora the truth like McGonagall had suggested. As if he'd ever admit that he had forgotten a date and by extension hurt her as a result.

Flowers were clearly out. Because honestly how could one afford a weekend full of worthy flowers on his salary? Dinner was also crossed off the list. They couldn't just _eat_ all weekend. He flopped down into his comfy chair and let his head hit the back of it. He needed to think. There had to be something that wasn't dangerous they could do that constituted a romantic weekend. All he had to do was think of it.

After a half an hour of staring mindlessly up at the ceiling, he grumbled. He'd just have to bite the dust and take his chances this time. Maybe she wouldn't jump into his mortal enemy's bed soon after this betrayal like Evans had so many years ago. He thought on that for a moment, pondering the scenario. Potter, James that was, was dead, as was Sirius Black. Pettigrew was never really an enemy, more of an annoyance truthfully, so the rat never factored into the equation whatsoever. And the last surviving Marauder, Remus Lupin, was now married to Nymphadora Tonks, something Severus was still trying to process mentally truth be told. So, just whom would Aurora jump into bed with then to hurt him so deeply as was the traditional ritual after his stupidity?

"Oh, yes, so very busy indeed," drawled a familiar slow voice. A shadow now fell upon him as he sat in his comfy chair by the fireplace.

Severus bit back his groan, his thoughts slipping away quickly. His dark eyes darted to the ethereal intruder with a mild look of disinterest. Of course she'd show up now. Or at least partly show up now as it was. Thankfully, Hogwarts' wards kept out bothersome pests like her, so she was always forced to rely upon the enchanted crystal ball Severus had, unfortunately for him, bought her.

"What is it, Mother?" he replied dolefully.

"Good evening to you as well, son," Eileen bitingly stated. Her eyes darted about the room for a moment before she scoffed. "I see you've become a man of leisure since May."

He couldn't prevent the instinctive swallow at her words. As if he needed any reminders of that time. He had enough as it was thanks to that damn snake.

"What do you need, Mother?" he repeated firmly. He knew his tone was leaving nothing to the imagination of just how _thrilled _he was that she was here visiting. He could see it on her face that even she couldn't ignore his feelings.

"I expect you to be here Friday, young man."

He scoffed and shook his head. "Ah, yes, because I can just drop everything. Can't I?" He caught his mother's eyes flash momentarily before she clenched her jaw. There was the one good thing about her having the enchanted crystal ball. She could no longer hit him as long as she used the ball to visit.

"That's quite enough of that cheek, Severus Tobias," she scolded. "I will not hesitate to storm my way into your castle."

"Unfortunately, Mother," he drawled, "I have plans."

"Cancel them."

"I'm unable to. I've given my word. You were the one who taught me after all never to go back on your word." A part of him was enjoying the look of annoyance on his mother's face. The other part of him knew he'd pay for that dearly later.

"Cancel. Them," his mother hissed, giving him the Gorgon stare.

"No." Oh, how young he felt right then. So rebellious. So free. And so about to get his arse spanked with a hairbrush. He was well aware that his mother wouldn't give a damn that he was thirty-eight anymore and would at least try it, but it felt liberating to tell her 'no' for once.

"This Saturday then, Severus," she repeated with a forced smile. A moment later, her ethereal image disappeared from the room.

He drew in a long, satisfied breath. He may have lost with McGonagall, but he had temporarily won with his mother. At least he was going to take it as a win. He chuckled quietly with a very large grin on his face. However, when he heard the sound of feet shuffling near the door, he inhaled sharply through his nose and glanced towards the entryway. There standing in crimson robes was Aurora. He could see the shell shocked look on her face and bit back a groan. So much for that win.

"I can explain," he started to say, rising from his chair slowly.

"You're taking me to meet your parents?" she asked breathlessly.

He blinked, unsure of which was the right response. Sometimes Aurora was an open book to him. But other times, like this, she was more confusing than a runes textbook from the Founders' Age. He took note of her shaky breathing and opened mouth. Signs of shock and surprise obviously. Her arms weren't crossed, so she wasn't entirely put off by the idea. But it was the slight twitch in the corners of her lips that gave him the much needed clue. She was fighting back a smile mixed with the obvious and very understandable apprehension.

"Yes." He ignored the urge to glance away from her honest eyes. "If you're agreeable, that is."

"This is—wow—that's—are you sure?"

Was he sure that he wanted to throw his six-month girlfriend to the hyena that was his mother? How to answer that honestly without scaring her to death was going to be interesting to say the least.

He took the approach of merely inclining his head. Sometimes saying nothing at all helped him tremendously over the years. He watched her try to calm herself by breathing deeply. Maybe she did understand the force of nature that Eileen Snape was.

"Oh. Wow." She then laughed anxiously, running a hand through her dark curls.

He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something seemed off with this whole thing. However, he decided that was solely his guilty conscience playing tricks on him and couldn't be anything else. He gently grabbed her hands and held them with his own.

"Would you accompany me to my parents this weekend?"

"Of course I will." She bit her bottom lip and smiled softly. "I never thought you'd ask."

"Nor did I," he answered truthfully before brushing his lips against hers. "I love you."

"I know." She ran her fingers gently through his long raven locks. "I love you, too."

* * *

All seemed well in Severus's world since Aurora had accepted accompanying him to Cokeworth for the weekend. In fact, he had noticed that she had a new spring in her step. While at first it was rather unsettling because it led him to wonder just what she was so happy about, he had quickly grown accustomed to it and passed it off as one of those womanly mysteries that he'd never discover.

As he walked into his office Friday night from his study, he caught the tall shadow lurking by the door to his office. He snorted and shook his head.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Lucius?" Severus called out.

"Ah," sighed the Malfoy patriarch. His head was not held up so high anymore, which was a result of the last war. Then again, it wasn't as if the man had all that much left to be proud of, except his family. "So you are here after all."

"Indeed." Severus then headed towards his ornate desk and sighed. Lucius, no doubt, would want to talk tonight. The man was after all plagued with the demons of their own making. He remained silent as he watched the blond sit across from him.

"I apologize for bothering you at this hour."

He waved off Lucius's apology. Seeing the older blond wizard finally lower himself to the status of being a mere mortal like the rest of them had lost its appeal long ago.

"It's been decided."

Severus nodded slowly. "So I heard."

"I suppose therapy won't be so bad, will it?" The blond glanced at him with dull grey eyes.

"I wouldn't know."

Lucius forced a polite smile and inclined his head. "Ah. Yes, of course. I forget. You were deemed reformed already." He forced a laugh. "How silly of me."

"What do you want?"

The blond wizard sighed heavily, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "Mindless chatter to get my mind off things."

Severus nodded once and rubbed the back of his neck. What could they talk about? It wasn't as if they had all that in common anymore. He thought for a few moments before he felt his own defeat slinking in. He supposed it was worth a shot. Lucius did have experience with such things before.

"I've asked Aurora to Cokeworth with me for the weekend." He caught Lucius's look of surprise instantly and frowned in response. "What?"

"I see." Lucius half-laughed. "I wasn't aware that you two were that serious about one another."

Severus's frown deepened. "I don't follow."

"Well, I am correct to assume that you are taking her so she may meet your parents?"

"Not initially, no."

"Oh?"

Knowing that Aurora was in class teaching Astronomy until two in the morning, Severus felt his tongue loosen. While Lucius and he weren't exactly friends, they weren't enemies either. And he fully admitted that he needed help deciphering the mystery that was before him.

"I appear to have forgotten that I made plans with her for a romantic weekend."

"I see." Lucius shrugged listlessly. "Taking her to meet your parents certainly fits that bill."

Severus sent a dark look towards the blond. He didn't need his mocking. "I was thinking of ideas for that weekend when my mother interrupted. Aurora unfortunately overheard, and I agreed to it."

"Ah." The blond smiled faintly. "Take it from me, old friend. Pleasing a woman never works out in the long run. She usually finds out the truth somehow."

"Aurora won't."

"I would not be so sure."

"She won't," he firmly stated. There was no way in hell he'd ever allow her to find out the truth about his lying to her. He knew how that'd go. He wasn't going to risk the chance of losing her. Not this time. No, this time he was getting his happy ending.

"Forgive me for saying this, but if you do not inform her and she learns the truth somehow, it'll be worse for you."

"She won't find out."

Lucius half-laughed and shook his head. "The truth always has had a mysterious way of coming out one way or another here. You know this."

Severus bristled and stood a little bit more rigid. "Perhaps that is the case with the majority of the secrets here, but it will not occur in my case."

"Oh, how I wish it were that easy." Lucius ran a hand through his ivory hair. "This is nothing like keeping your true loyalties hidden from the Dark Lord. I assure you of that."

"I believe I have a little more insight on Aurora than you."

"Perhaps, but I have more insight on women than you," Lucius pointed out kindly. "And I'm telling you that it would be better for you if you'd just admit that you forgot."

"Absolutely not." He shook his head fiercely. "I will not ever admit that."

"Why not?"

Severus bit back a growl. Why didn't anyone use their brains? It truly wasn't that difficult to figure out. After all, what man truly ever wanted to disappoint the one woman who truly mattered in his life? He glanced away and shook his head again. No. He'd do everything in his power to make certain she never found out. He couldn't bear to see her look of disappointment. Nor could he risk the chance of her wising up and leaving him for someone more worthy of her affections than him.

"It will not work in your favor," Lucius quipped.

"It will. Now, kindly get the hell out of here," Severus snapped, his eyes darting to the blond with a murderous glare. There was no room for doubt. It'd only destroy him if he gave into his fears. He could keep her in the dark. There was no reason she needed to know the truth. Not unless he wanted to lose her for good. That was the only option he ever envisioned after all.

He watched Lucius silently take his leave. The blond stopped with his hand on the doorknob and turned back. But Lucius said nothing, clearly fighting with himself. A few moments later, the former regal Malfoy turned and left. Severus breathed a sigh of relief the moment the door closed behind the other man. It'd work. She wouldn't find out, and everything would be fine. The end . . .he hoped.

* * *

For the hundredth time that fateful Friday, he reread the message his mother had sent him. The message was short and abrupt, only containing a few words in fact. The words '_Bring a sleeping bag'_ were written in the familiar cursive. Four words. That was it. Yet, it caused him to start to ponder just what the hell had happened to his old room in Cokeworth. Last he had been there, it was still furnished with all of his old belongings. So why did he need a sleeping bag?

Severus frowned, his eyes narrowing on the words. There had to be some hidden meaning there behind his mother's words. All he needed to do was decipher it. Several scenarios lay before him. One, his father may have finally gotten his wish and turned Severus's old room into a 'man cave,' something his mother had sworn would not happen so long as she were alive. Two, his room could have been destroyed, either intentionally or unintentionally. Three, the old blankets finally dissolved due to disuse over the years and his parents couldn't afford to buy a new one. Four, they moved from Spinner's End. Five, spider infestation, which judging by how well the house was usually maintained not too farfetched. Six—he paused for a moment. His eyes passed over her words once more. Could it be possible that she knew about Aurora? Was that it? Oh, if it was, then he needed all the prayers in the world.

Six months had passed, and he never once told his parents that he was seeing someone. Finally, as his mother would say. After thirty-eight years of bachelorhood, he had at last attempted to have a romantic relationship with someone. He didn't really count his years chasing after Evans anymore. Though, he realized that he had some sort of thing with the green-eyed redhead. Whether one called it an obsession or not was debatable. Either way, he had finally untangled the barbwire from his heart and given away the key to it. While he found himself still uneasy at times with the whole aspect of romantic encounters, he wouldn't have given up the past six months for anything.

He chuckled silently. Since when had he become so disgustingly sentimental? He chalked it up to Aurora rubbing off on him. After all, had it not been for her, he'd not have realized that Astronomy wasn't as dull of a class as he had first thought it was. Then again, he'd freely admit that having the right teacher helped tremendously.

His eyes darted back to the message. _Bring a sleeping bag._ There were so many ways one could take that sentence. It could be his mother saying, "I know about your silly girlfriend you've been hiding, and you'll be sleeping on the sofa until Monday for hiding her from me." Or "Your room burned down." Or even "Your dad gave away your room, so you have no place to sleep." He sighed, rubbing his eyes with his fingertips. Why didn't his mother just come out and say it? Why did she always make him have to decipher her real meaning? And people wondered why he had a tendency to overthink things.

After ten long minutes, he gave up and crumpled up the message. Whatever it was, he decided to play along. At least for now. There was always the option of returning to Hogwarts after all.

When the door to his rooms opened, he glanced at it and faintly smiled at Aurora as she walked in. She clearly had just come from teaching, seeing as how the bottom of her long, ivory teaching robes trailed gracefully behind her. He couldn't help but be oddly reminded of a bride on her wedding day.

"What's that?" she asked, gesturing towards the balled up message.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with," he replied evasively. He caught her look of surprise instantly followed by a look of intrigue. On second thought, perhaps he could tell her. "Mother wrote again. She's requesting we bring sleeping bags."

"Oh?" She frowned as she removed her outer robes to place them beside his black ones. Licking her lips slowly, she then glanced at him. "Why?"

Without batting an eye, he answered, "To go with my surprise for you."

"A surprise?" she laughed, giving him a questioning look. "You do realize that you don't have to go all out for this, right? That I'll enjoy whatever you have planned, big or small, either way?"

He inclined his head, his throat having suddenly become dry. It was becoming difficult to maintain his composure once again. Then again, he was lying to her. So, what did he expect?

"All right." She ran a hand through her curls, clearly thinking on something.

As he watched her, he heard his heart pound in his ears. He could feel his blood rushing through him with every bit of anticipation of her next move. He forced himself to remain calm, though. There was no need to panic quite yet. She was just thinking on something. A little voice in his head soon started to serenade him with the idea of his using his Legilimency on her. Thankfully, he could ignore that voice for now. After all, it wouldn't kill him to wait for her to collect her thoughts.

However, as time passed by so slowly and it was starting to look like it'd be forever, he soon started to entertain the idea. He could always take a quick peek after all. It wasn't like she'd ever know that he had learned her thoughts. Then again, he knew it was a horrible breach of privacy if he did choose to do that to her. But on the other hand, he'd know what it was that she was thinking so intently about, which could help him later.

He finally sighed inwardly. The silence was going to kill him. "Aurora?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you thinking about?" He caught her brief wince and felt himself tense. Here it was. She was going to dump his sorry arse. He should've known. Nothing good ever happened—

"Well, um," she started to say, shifting her weight slightly. Her hand reached up to the back of her neck and rubbed it slowly before she glanced down. "I don't have a sleeping bag," she mumbled.

"Huh?" He couldn't hold back his brief second of stupidity. She wasn't breaking up with him?

"I said, 'I don't have a sleeping bag," she repeated quietly, peeking hesitantly through her dark curls that had fallen forward into her face.

He chuckled in relief and shook his head. "It's fine. We can buy you one before we leave."

"For just one weekend?" she asked incredulously. "I think I'd rather just use a duplication spell and be done with it."

He could've kicked himself. Duplication spells, of course. "As you wish." Never before had he found himself agreeing with her so much. Usually, or at least prior to their romantic entanglement, they were fighting like Hinkypunks and Imps. Now, well, that just wasn't the case anymore.

"So, what's the surprise anyway?" she inquired, her hands twisting anxiously.

He blinked instantly before forcing a smile. "Something you'll remember forever, Aurora. I promise." At the sight of her face going supernova, he groaned inwardly. Soon, he'd reach the other side of the world with the rate he was currently digging for himself.

* * *

With Aurora curled around him asleep, he stared up at the ceiling, saying every prayer and wishful spell he could think of to get him through this day. Saturday. Aka D-Day. Today was the day that Aurora and his parents, namely his mother, would learn the truth. Or at least it was what he assumed was going to happen. The truth always did come out eventually. Damn Lucius for being right.

It was so easy to believe that everything would be all right. That he could just maintain the lie a bit longer and all would be well. His mind worked on various scenarios as time slowly moved on before he finally came up with the most obvious answer of all. He'd tell Aurora the truth. At least partly. Not the part that he had forgotten that they had plans originally, but the part that would at least get him out of the doghouse when it came time to explaining about everything.

"Sinistra?" he whispered, drawing in a slow breath as he waited for her reply.

"Yeah?" she murmured sleepily, gradually lifting her head up to look at him.

"I need to admit something." He glanced away guiltily the moment he saw the hurt in her eyes.

"We aren't going today, are we?" The sadness was in every word of her question.

"It's not that. I promise." He sighed and forced himself to look at her again. "It's just, I may have," he paused, swallowing back his apprehension, "neglected to inform my mother about you." He inhaled sharply when she pushed up off on his chest and stared at him with big eyes.

"You didn't tell her about me?!"

Had he not been so worried about her learning the other truth, he may have chuckled about her current panicked look. As it was, he merely glanced away and sighed.

"Severus! How could you not tell her?"

"It's not that easy," he simply replied, refusing to meet her eyes.

"Why the hell not?" She then hit his chest lightly. "Circe," she growled before she huffed loudly. "Don't you think I was scared out of my mind when I told my parents about you?"

He winced inwardly. "Be as that may—"

"No. No 'Be as that may' crap. Why didn't you tell her?" Her hand grabbed his chin when he refused to answer. She forced him to look at her. "Tell me, Severus. Why didn't you tell her?"

He closed his eyes and sighed. He hated looking into those honest eyes of hers. It made him feel like the horrible git everyone made him out to be. Actually more than that. When he heard her sharp intake of air, he looked at her quickly and frowned at the heartbreaking look on her face. He was the reason for that look. No one else.

"Aurora—"

"No." She pulled back from him and pushed herself up out of bed to leave. "No. It's okay. I get it. It's fine. Really. Should've known. Always, always the same," she rambled, clearly controlled by her turbulent emotions.

He gently grabbed her wrist, though, and prevented her from leaving. He shook his head silently. She always took things in the worst way possible. It was something they had in common actually.

"Let me explain. Please," he said quietly.

"Why? So you can say that you're embarrassed by me?"

He snorted. "I assure you that is hardly the case." He gently pulled her back towards him and waited for her to comply. His hands slipped into hers, noticing that she held his hesitantly. "I didn't tell her because I wanted to be absolutely certain you were the one before I did. I wouldn't wish to subject anyone to my mother's scrutiny, much less a woman that I've been casually seeing the past six months." He could feel the tension slowly leaving Aurora's slender hands. "I needed to be sure first, and I am now. I want them to meet you, to get to know you and see how amazing you are." He watched the faint smile flood across her face. "I didn't want to tell her until now because, let's be honest, my mother has a long history of scaring the hell out of people. I didn't want her to scare you away. I didn't want her to do _anything _to jeopardize our relationship. So I kept it quiet."

"Does she know I'm coming at least?"

"No."

"Aren't you—?"

"This is the best way, Aurora. Please believe me."

"Isn't she going to be mad, though?"

"Likely, but that's my problem, not yours."

"We should—"

"Do nothing," he interrupted. "We should do nothing." He sighed softly. "If I let her know, she'll bombard you with a million questions, all bent on testing and upsetting you. Please. Just trust me."

"But I'll be lying to her. That's hardly a good impression."

He bit his cheek to keep from falling to the floor laughing hysterically. She was worried about making a bad impression? Oh, how he loved this woman.

"She will dislike you from the start. It's how she is." He shrugged. "Honestly, she's one who lives to make bad impressions. The worse it is, the more amusing it is for her. So do not worry about it. Just be yourself and ignore her. Half the time I don't even like her."

"Severus," she lightly chided, laughing.

"It's true." He then lightly squeezed her hands and gave her a reassuring smile. "It'll be all right. Just trust me."

She rolled her eyes before she sighed. "I guess I have to." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Do you really think I'm the one?"

"With all my heart." He watched her smile immediately light up the room.

"Good answer."

"Thank you," he joked, inclining his head. "We should perhaps head over there."

"Yeah."

"However, I want you to know, Aurora, whatever happens, know that I love you and that everything I do is to ensure I do not hurt you. I could not live with myself if I ever hurt you." He watched the confusion cross her mind.

"All right." She blinked for a moment before shaking her head. "That was rather . . ."

"Disgusting sentimental?" he offered. "I'm blaming you for that." He glanced at the clock. It was time. He could hear the slow funeral dirge in the background. Or was that all in his head? "Let's go."

* * *

Pulling his long wool black coat further around him, he continued down the uneven cobblestone street with Aurora at his side. His eyes darted in between the row houses on either side of them, noticing the street urchins looking out warily at them. No doubt, the kids were waiting for Aurora and him to have their backs turned before the kids would come up from behind and pickpocket them. Severus remembered that ritual all too well from his childhood days.

His dark eyes narrowed when he caught the movement in front of him. A young girl, no more than seven he'd guess, slowly approached. Her eyes were downcast, trained on the broken cobblestone street. Filth covered every part of her sad face, giving her the impression that she had just stepped out of a coal mine after sixteen hours of work. Her hands, tiny as they were, were bandaged up. Every now and then, he could see the crimson spots that stained her dirtied bandages. He sighed inwardly. The oldest trick in the book. Out of one of Dickens's novels practically.

"Hello, love," Aurora softly spoke beside him.

He glanced at her and felt his frown deepen. Sometimes Aurora was really naïve. Kind and sweet, of course, but oh was she naïve. On guard for anything, he sidestepped closer to her. The brats would surely be coming soon now with her taking their bait.

"We should continue," he quietly murmured, gently wrapping an arm around Aurora's waist. For anyone else in a relationship, that action would be seen as being seamless and second nature. However, Severus was known for not being into the whole 'touchy feely' crap that came with being in a relationship, so it was quite noticeable when she tensed a moment later and gave him a questioning look. "We're nearly there," he merely explained, hoping she'd just accept his answer without any questions.

"And then?" She took a quick step back from him and crossed her arms defensively. "I mean, we're not in a hurry, are we?"

He should've known. She rarely, if ever, made things easy for him. He sighed inwardly as he attempted to think of a tactful way to explain what really was going on. However, he only entertained this idea for half a minute before deciding to screw pleasantries and be his usual self. It was the better option when compared to being pick-pocketed.

"All right, you little brats," he grumbled, digging into his pocket for spare coins. "I'll give you each a shilling, but nothing more."

"Severus!" Aurora scolded, clearly offended by his insinuation. However, at the sight of the little girl straightening up seconds later, a look of confusion crossed the older woman's face before she glanced back at him. "What in Circe's—?"

"Or what?" asked the obvious ringleader of the young thieves as he approached from the alley.

"In exchange, I won't teach all of you a lesson about stealing from the wrong people," he simply replied, staring the ten-year-old boy in the eyes. "Unless you want me to tell the Silver Fox that you were stealing from his kin? Your choice." He said nothing when he caught the flash of fear in the boy's eyes. Good. That threat still had meaning here. It was good to know that some things over the years hadn't changed fully in Cokeworth.

"Nah. We're good, sir." The boy waved the other children back. "Sorry. Didn't know who you were. Thought you were just some rich bloke."

"Hardly. Now, get lost." He felt himself relax slightly when the children scattered, likely in search of another mark. He turned his attention back to Aurora, who was clearly confused. "Shall we?"

"What just happened? I mean, how did you know that they—I don't understand."

"It's just the Cokeworth way of welcoming you," he said with a snort.

"So you . . ."

Severus stared neutrally at her, hearing her voice trail off soon after. He watched her shake her head then before she glanced away. He couldn't explain why he felt he needed to justify his past crimes, but he tried to anyway.

"This isn't Windsor. Here we have to steal and such just to limp further along. Most here barely have an education past primary school. And the jobs," he scoffed. "One might as well look for Nargles than legitimate businesses anymore. When the mill closed, we were left to fend for ourselves as a city. This is our way of life now. It's unfortunately the only way we've learned to ensure our survival." He watched her nod, glad that she was going to leave it at that for now.

Even though, Lily had grown up just a few houses down from Severus, the green-eyed redhead always made a point in giving him a disappointed look when she'd learn of his stealing food. Then again, the Evans never suffered the way his family did.

"Hey," Aurora softly said, touching his arm and drawing him out of his thoughts suddenly. "Are you all right?"

He nodded and glanced away. "I'm fine. We should, however, get out of the streets before the brats come back and try again." He started towards the brick building in front of them once more, frowning at the sign hanging precariously above the entrance. At any moment, it looked like the wretched thing could fall and kill someone. Or at the very least seriously injure someone. Oh, but of course his mother would want to meet here. The damn death trap of Cokeworth.

Severus led them inside the pub a moment later underneath the decrepit sign, trying to put his feelings of dread aside. Whatever happened in a couple of minutes wouldn't change a thing. No amount of his mother's shrieking bitchiness could change what he felt for Aurora.

He glanced around the crowded pub momentarily, but didn't see anyone who looked like his parents. He frowned inwardly and took a step towards the bar. However, when Aurora grabbed his arm a moment later, he turned back to her.

She gave him a shy nervous smile. "I'm going to freshen up."

He snorted and shook his head in amusement. She was truly beautiful in these unguarded moments of hers. "I assure you, Aurora, no amount of makeup will help you."

Her face morphed into anger instantly. "_Excuse_ _me_?"

He blinked and then caught what he said. He winced and sighed. Honestly, when would he learn how to talk with women? "I just mean that Mother will be difficult regardless of your appearance. It's her nature unfortunately." He could tell that Aurora wasn't buying his answer in the slightest. Then again, he couldn't blame her. Sighing, he closed his eyes. "I apologize for my words. However, I promise you that I did not mean it in that way. I merely spoke before thinking."

She scoffed and turned away. "Whatever." She then headed in the direction of the loo, leaving him alone to rebuke himself over his stupid error in words.

"Severus? Severus Snape?" a voice spoke from his left. "Well, shit on a log, it is you."

He quickly turned to the sound of the voice and watched a blue-eyed, blond woman approach with a broad smile on her face. She oddly seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't recall who she was.

"I thought it was, but I—well, never mind that." Her face softened. "I'm so glad you came."

"I'm afraid I don't follow," he replied, frowning slightly. Why couldn't he remember who this woman was? Someone from his youth, obviously, but whom?

The woman laughed. "Oh, Severus. I forgot how funny you were."

He tensed at her words before glancing towards the door to the loo, wishing Aurora would hurry the hell up so they could find his parents and get this weekend over with. Absentmindedly, he heard the woman in front of him drone on about something, but he kept his attention trained on the door. He assumed the woman would get the hint and leave, but she didn't, so he let her continue and remained waiting. The moment the door opened and he saw Aurora's dark curls several moments later, he silently sighed in relief and let his head fall forward slightly. Finally.

He opened his mouth to excuse himself, only to be cut off by a pair of lips that suddenly were on his. He made a strangled sound of surprise and quickly shoved the person as hard as he could away from him. His eyes were murderous as he glared at the confused blond in front of him.

"Explain yourself. Now," he hissed dangerously at the woman.

"I-I-I thought it was okay. I—you nodded."

"I most certainly did not!" he growled, envisioning various hellish ways of murdering her.

"But you did! Ask anyone. You nodded to me!" the woman shouted.

"_Leave_."

"But what about our date?"

His eyes flashed, and his jaw clenched. "There will be no date. Ever!" He growled low before he glanced towards Aurora, who was standing in the doorway of the loo, frozen like a statue staring at him with a look of horror. He needed to fix this. Now.

"But your mum—" the woman cried.

And there it was. The punch in the gut that always came when his mother was involved. He inhaled sharply and glared at the woman.

"My mother is a raving lunatic!" he shouted, clenching his jaw angrily. "Whatever she told you, disregard it and leave now."

"But—"

"NOW!"

The woman flinched violently, but held her ground with shaky composure. "You can't keep pushing people away, Severus."

"Get. Out."

"She'd want you to love again—"

The rubber band of his self-control snapped. "Listen here, you annoying little twit!" he snarled, taking a threatening step towards the blond. "You know _absolutely nothing_ about me other than the lies my mother told you in order to make you feel sorry for me. However, I'll foolishly indulge you and inform you the truth." He drew in a swift breath before he continued. "I am not the sad, pathetic hap who can't move on, as my mother no doubt led you to believe. I am, in fact, very much in love with that woman over there," he said, motioning towards Aurora. "And I would do anything for her, even murder you for being the stupid dunderhead you are by jeopardizing our happiness. Do you understand?" When the blond blinked and glanced towards Aurora in disbelief, he growled. "Do you understand me?"

"Yeah. I-I didn't know you—she just said—I-I'm sorry."

"Leave us," he ordered. When the blond scattered a moment later, he quickly headed over to Aurora, who remained statue-like. He drew in a deep breath to calm his turbulent emotions. "Sinistra?" No movement. "Aurora?"

"This was supposed to be a blind date?" she whispered a moment later.

He sighed. "In hindsight, you were clearly right. I should've told her about you earlier. If only to prevent this fiasco," he explained. "However, I meant my words just now."

She was quiet for a while before she spoke. "You keep apologizing," she pointed out.

He nodded slowly. "I do." Thoughts flashed in his mind momentarily before he spoke again. "I don't want to lose you, Aurora. I need you to understand that. I will do everything in my power to ensure that I never lose you. Ever."

She stared at him for half a moment before sighing. "I know."

"Good." He cleared his throat softly. A part of him wanted to come clean right then and tell her the truth about forgetting about their date. But he couldn't bring himself to say the words. He knew the moment he told her, he'd see that heartbreaking look on her face that he hated so much. He couldn't hurt her and break her heart like that. No. It was better this way, he decided.

"Where are your parents?"

He shrugged, glancing around. "I'm not certain. I don't see them here. Then again, judging by Mother's stunt just now, I'd imagine they're at home, waiting to find out if the date went well."

She nodded slowly, biting her lip. "Severus?"

"Yes?"

"If she's going to test me anyway and be overall difficult, shouldn't we do something?"

"Like what?" he asked, glancing at her.

"Well, I was just thinking. If she loves creating drama and playing mind games on others, then maybe someone should turn the tables on her someday."

His ears perked up instantly. Was she suggesting . . . "I see." He stared at her for a few moments before crossing his arms with a relaxed look. "What are you suggesting?"

"That we play mind games on her."

He chuckled. "My, my. Do my ears deceive me? Are you suggesting a Slytherin approach?"

"Maybe," she said smiling. "It'd make this weekend interesting. And maybe it'd make a good impression on your mother."

"It could work." He nodded. "Very well. We'll give Mother a taste of her own medicine."

* * *

With Aurora at his side, Severus walked up to the front door and knocked loudly. He grimaced inwardly when he heard the cracking sound of the wood underneath his knuckles and saw the paint chips fall silently to the floor. He knocked again a moment later when there was no answer.

"Do we have the right date?" she asked softly.

He merely nodded, wondering what exactly was going on. His parents, namely his mother, always were waiting at home whenever they knew he was coming home. His mum would never let an opportunity to embarrass him first thing slip by.

"Well, maybe we should send an owl?"

"That would be a bad idea, considering we don't know where they are."

"Oh." She looked around then, shuffling her feet. "What about a spare key?"

He snorted. "Mother doesn't believe in such a thing. Her exact thoughts on the idea is that she might as well have just left the door unlocked instead."

"Your mother's a difficult woman, isn't she?"

"I believe we've already covered that, yes." He smirked before he turned back to the front door and pounded his fist against it this time, calling out loudly. "Open the damn door, Mother! I know you're in there."

"Do you?" Aurora asked beside him.

"Trust me. She'd never let an opportunity go to waste," he drawled before he pounded on the door again, rattling the windows slightly. "Mother! Open the goddamn door!"

"Severus." Aurora gently rested her hand on his arm. "Maybe they're not home."

"No. She's in there." He then raised his voice. "Aren't you, you old hag!"

"Severus!" his companion hissed. However, the door still didn't open.

He frowned deeply before his eyes darted up towards his parents' bedroom's window. There was a flickering light up there, so someone was clearly in the house at some point. He watched the window for a few more minutes prior to noticing a shadow walk past it.

Reacting on pure instinct, he waved his hand at the doorknob, unlocking it nonverbally. He darted inside and took the stairs two steps at a time before he reached his parents' room. His long ebony wand was in hand, ready to strike, when he threw the door open.

However, the scene he walked into caused him to drop his wand with a loud clatter. He blinked several times before he grimaced and groaned. He felt slightly queasy now.

"Oh, look, Toby. Severus is here," Eileen Snape purred with a wide smile as she knelt on the bed her husband was tied to. Her dark eyes widened slightly before her smile deepened. "And he's brought home a girl." Eileen slowly extended her hand. "Severus's mother. And you are?"

"Um, I'm Aurora Sinistra," she said, hesitantly taking Eileen's hand and glancing warily at Tobias who tried to speak around his gag. "Your son and I aren't together, though."

Eileen pulled her hand back sharply. "Oh?" Her piercing black eyes darted to her son. "What wrong have I caused you to torture your father and I like this?" She shook her head sadly. "Honestly. Sex wouldn't kill you, Severus. How do you think your father and I stay in such good shape? Hmm?"

"Enough," groaned Severus, doing his best not to vomit. And his mother wondered why he didn't like coming home? Case in point. His mom in a negligee half off, and his dad just in ropes.

Eileen turned back to Aurora, pointedly ignoring her son now. "So . . . are you single?"

"Mother!"

"What? I'm just getting to know your friend here."

"Perhaps you and Dad could be more appropriately dressed for this conversation. Perhaps not have him tied to the bedposts."

"Whatever you say, love." Eileen smiled as she pushed herself up off the bed. She leaned a bit towards Aurora. "A bit of advice woman-to-woman. Men love it when you punish them and deprive them of their fun. The longer you make them hold out, the more . . . well, I'm certain you can fill in the blanks there all on your own."

Severus let out a little grumble before he turned around and huffed out of the room with Aurora following. Two whole days with his parents. Someone wasn't going to make it out alive.

About five minutes later, his now fully dressed parents joined them in the kitchen. He glared at them before he continued drinking his glass of whiskey.

"Oh, please. Like that's the first time you've interrupted us, Severus," his mother drawled. She turned to Aurora. "He once walked in on his father and me on this very kitchen table. It was our anniversary, so obviously you have to do something special for it." At the look on Aurora's face, Eileen laughed. "Don't worry, dear. We've washed the table since then."

"If you plan on just speaking crudely the entire weekend, I believe I'll take Aurora home and call us even, Mother."

"You know, dear, if you just had sex, you wouldn't be so tense all the time. It isn't healthy being all uptight with a stick up your arse." Severus clenched his teeth and glared at his mother, which caused her to pat his cheek tenderly. "I love you, too."

"So, Aurora . . . that's your name, right?" Tobias cut in, asking softly.

"It is, sir."

Tobias smiled warmly. "What is it you do? For a living, I mean?"

"I teach Astronomy."

"Ah. A romantic subject."

Aurora smiled softly. "I suppose you could say that. I certainly have to deal with a lot of sex-crazed teenagers who tend to use the atmosphere for their own pleasures in my class after all."

"Maybe someday you could teach Severus it?" Eileen shrugged as she poured herself a cup of tea. "He won't tell you this, but he's absolutely dreadful at it. Waste of time, he calls it. I think it's just because he's never had the right teacher, you know?"

Severus closed his eyes and listed all the ingredients needed to brew Polyjuice potion in order to calm himself again. However, he soon realized that just wasn't doing it for him. He grabbed the bottle of whiskey in front of him and poured himself another glass.

"Now, Severus won't tell you this either. He's a shy person, as I'm sure you know." Eileen sighed, brushing back a stray black lock of hair. "But, well, my dear sweet boy is a thirty-eight-year-old virgin." His eyes widened in horror. "You see, we thought that by modeling it ourselves we were showing him that sex is perfectly natural, but, well, I'm sure you have seen his extreme reactions to it."

Severus nearly choked on his whiskey. His _extreme _reactions to it? Anyone would have extreme reactions to his parents doing _that_!

"Uh . . ." Aurora softly said, glancing at Severus helplessly.

"Truthfully, his father and I think that he's afraid, you know? Afraid of all the things that will go wrong if he has sex. But if he had the right teacher . . ."

"Uh, um, Eileen, I—uh . . ."

"Shh, dear. It's okay." Eileen smiled warmly, holding up a hand. "You see, my son has a bit of a crush on you. A mother always knows. And, well, I can tell by the way that you're not screaming out of here that you like him as well."

"Um . . ."

"Severus, be a dear and help Aurora up to your room. And don't worry, you two. Unlike my son, Tobias and I won't interrupt you."

"Mother!"

"Eileen!"

"Now, loves. It's okay. Really. It is. You have our complete blessing. We even bought new bedding for the occasion. The silk kind."

Severus blinked and stared at his mother in disbelief. What in the nine hells was going on?

"We're not sleeping together."

"Yet," Eileen added with a happy smile.

"Exactly," Tobias agreed, leaning back with a wide grin.

Severus couldn't take it anymore. The question left his mouth before he could stop himself. "Are you two on drugs? Have you been sniffing paint again? Or eating mushrooms? Or have you two just lost your damn minds!"

"This is for your own good, love. Trust us. Now, go on. Enjoy yourselves."

"Like your mother said. Enjoy yourselves, kids. After all, the sooner you two have sex, the sooner we can go camping and get to know each other properly."

Severus couldn't brush off the chill that ran down his spine at his father's words. "Dad, we're not having sex in the house. Nor are we having sex anywhere."

Eileen frowned. "Why not? It's not like you had anything else planned for your six-month anniversary, did you, son?"

"I do, too!"

"Oh? Then why did you talk to Minerva and ask her for ideas the other day?"

He growled, glaring at his mother. "You know nothing, Mother."

"On the contrary, son, I know a little bit better than you. Like making sure I don't forget six-month anniversaries."

"Yeah," Tobias piped up. "Hell, I use a calendar to make sure I remember."

"Well, aren't you two fucking perfect?" Severus growled. He yelped when his mother hit him upside the head.

"Language!"

"We're leaving. Now." He pushed himself up and whirled around to leave. However, he stopped when he didn't hear Aurora following behind him. He turned back and frowned when he saw her disappointed look. "Fine. Then, _I'm_ leaving." He growled and glared at his mother. "Have fun telling her about every other fucking time I screwed up in my life. Like the time I found your vibrator and thought it was a small sword. Or, hey, what about the time you caught me blowing up a condom that I thought was a balloon? Hell, you could even tell her all about the time when I was like eight or nine and convinced my water broke after I woke up to find that I had a wet dream. Yeah, go on, Mother. Tell her all about my embarrassing childhood moments. Please. I so want that right now," he snarled, baring his teething at his parents and looking like a rabid dog.

"Severus," Aurora called out, reaching to grab his arm.

He shook his head violently and stormed out a moment later. Just once he wanted to be happy.

* * *

A half an hour later sitting alone on a bench in an old, rundown park, Severus stared out at the dirty river that ran through the middle of the park. He had long since passed the time where he could smell the heavy scent of sulfur in the air that wafted up from the black water. There was no noise. No movement for the longest time. It was just the way he wanted it truthfully. To be left alone. It was easier. No one to disappoint then.

He glanced up at the sky and watched the storm clouds roll in. A part of him, the sensible side, thought about returning to his parents to escape the impending rain. However, he didn't. Instead, he just sat there on that metal bench and waited. At the first few drops of rain, he closed his eyes and breathed in the refreshing smell of fresh rain.

"Am I going to have to nurse you back to health again, Severus?" an amused Aurora asked as she slowly approached him from behind.

"Go away."

"See? You say go away, but your body is showing me that you want me to stay."

"You're blind."

"And you're an idiot."

"Obviously," he grumbled. He watched her sit beside him and sighed heavily. "Why'd you come here, Aurora? Why'd you not just leave me? You'd have good cause to."

"Why? Because you forgot one date?" She rolled her eyes. "I'm more upset about the fact that you lied to me instead of just telling me the truth."

He turned towards her with his nostrils flaring. "If I had told you that I forgot about our date, you'd have been hurt."

"So?"

"_So_?" he hissed. "So?" He threw his arms up into the air. "You'd have been hurt, Aurora. Because of me!"

"I'd have gotten over it, Severus."

"No you wouldn't have. It'd have been in the back of your mind always. Any time I did anything wrong, there'd be that little voice that'd go, 'I wish I wasn't with him."

"Will you stop over-thinking things?"

"Now, who's lying?"

"Not me," she replied with a shrug. "You're the one who keeps coming up with reasons for me to break up with you."

"You deserve better!"

"Who says I don't have it pretty good now?"

"ME!"

She crossed her arms and shook her head. "When will you realize that everything's good? That I'm happy? That the only little voice that's saying 'I wish I wasn't with him' is the little voice in your head. Hmm?"

"You're lying. You're just telling me that you're happy."

She rolled her eyes before she placed her hands on his cheeks and stared him deep in the eyes. "Severus. Shut up."

"No," he replied petulantly.

"Severus," she said firmly.

"You can't be happy with me. I'm . . ." His voice trailed off as he glanced down at the ground.

"A pessimist? A masochist? An arse? A dunderhead?" She smiled brilliantly. "I can keep going, if you'd like me to."

"Aurora," he groused.

"Severus."

"You shouldn't be happy with me."

"Says you."

"Yes, says me, damn it!" He shook his head angrily. "Merlin. Don't you get it? I'll only disappoint you and cause you to a live a lifetime of regret being with me. You deserve better."

"I deserve you."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes," he said through clenched teeth.

She leaned towards him, their lips nearly touching. "Yes." He opened his mouth to cry in victory when she cut him off with a swift kiss before pulling back. "You're the one I love, Severus. Not the others who fake it to please me. Am I happy you forgot that we had a date? No. But I'll get over it." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Because, while you were entirely full of shit at times trying to trick me into thinking that you didn't forget, you did speak from your heart and say some good things."

He blinked. "I did?"

"You did."

"Oh."

"Every now and then, love, you stumble upon a romantic notion."

He tried to think back on everything he had said for the past few weeks. However, when she laughed softly, he found himself glancing at her with a somber look.

"You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?" she said, smiling.

"Not especially, no."

"You pretty much told me that you didn't tell your mother because you were protecting me from the awkwardness that is your mother. Not to mention the perfect 'And I would do anything for her, even murder you for being the stupid dunderhead you are by jeopardizing our happiness' rant earlier."

He laughed softly and nodded slowly. "I should've known you'd enjoy that. You've always been a little special."

"_Excuse me_? Are you insulting me, Severus Tobias Snape?"

"No. Mocking. It's different."

"Git."

"Yes, but it would seem I'm your git."

Her smile lit up the sky. "Damn straight you are."

"Possessive today, aren't you?"

"Eh, I'm like this every day. Just don't get to show you it all that often." She laughed. It was silent for several moments before she spoke softly again. "Severus?" She paused, looking at him silently. "Let's go home."

He sighed and glanced at her. "I don't suppose you mean Hogwarts by saying going home, do you?" He could see her answer in her eyes and felt his stomach drop.

"It's not that bad. Really."

He groaned loudly and let his head thump back against the bench. "But I don't want to go back."

She laughed. "Oh, quit being a baby. It's not that bad."

He cocked his eyebrow and stared at her incredulously. "Excuse me? Did you just call me an infant?" He puffed his chest out, ready to fight her to the death and convince her why it was a bad idea.

"Well, if the boots fit . . ."

He glared before he stood up and stalked away as quickly as he could. He grumbled when he heard the footsteps following him. He was not being an infant. For Merlin's sake, she had met his mother. So, how could she call him an infant?

"Will you stop? Circe, Severus," Aurora called after him.

"You met her for Merlin's sake!" he shouted, whirling around to her. "She's . . . she's . . . ugh!"

She smiled, resting a hand on his arm. "She's your mother. And while she's a pain by saying embarrassing things about you, you still love her."

"That remains to be seen," he grumbled.

"Oh, hush," she chided, threading their fingers together. "I'll be right here. By your side. Like I've always done." She smiled. "We can survive your mother. Trust me." He'd remind her of that later. She sighed then. "Though, clearly, our plans of returning the favor to her isn't going to happen."

He wisely bit his tongue to keep from saying 'I could have told you that.'

* * *

That night as they lay under the stars, Severus stared up at the night sky and sighed silently as the fire crackled hypnotically near them. It had been six hours since his tantrum that had resulted in Aurora dragging him back. He had to admit, unwilling of course, that spending these past hours with his parents wasn't so bad. At least not yet. He was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"What are you thinking about?" Aurora asked quietly with her head on his chest.

"Nothing."

"Liar."

"Perhaps." He then closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. He had long since wished this conversation would end. However, when she moved a moment later, he suppressed his sigh and frowned. "Aurora, sit still."

"I can't."

He rolled his eyes. "Now, who's being juvenile?"

"Hey!"

"Well, if the boots fit . . ." he replied, repeating her earlier words.

"Well, excuse me," she snapped. "I'm not used to sleeping on the ground."

"You're not sleeping on the ground. You're sleeping on a sleeping bag and using me as your goddamn pillow."

"Yeah, and it's a very uncomfortable one."

"What would you like me to do, woman? Conjure a bed for you?" he drawled.

"Perhaps a little understanding could be called for."

He nearly died laughing. "Funny. When I needed a little understanding from you earlier, you—"

"Oh, will you two shut up already?" Eileen called from a nearby tent.

"No!" they both shouted back.

"They're made for each other clearly," muttered someone from his parents' tent. There was a rustling for a moment then before the tent opened up to reveal his mother in his father's long shirt. "You love her. She loves you. Got it? Good. Now, go to sleep."

"My loving Aurora has nothing to do with this."

"Oh?" Eileen leaned back on her heels and stared at him. "Then, what does have to do with it?"

"You."

"Excuse me?"

"Because of you, I'm romantically damaged, Mother." He frowned when Aurora started coughing harshly and saw his mother's wide eyes.

"Is that so?" Eileen said dangerously.

"It is." He stared up at the stars, a strange calm sweeping over him. "If I took your advice regarding relationships, I'd never have met the woman I love. Instead, I'd have thrown it all away on some harlot who never truly loved me in the slightest."

"What?"

He brushed off his mother's question and continued. "You taught me all about magic, the good and the bad. And I fell hard for the bad because I thought it'd give me control, something I strive for. However, all that instruction about magic, you rarely showed me anything about love. Actual love. Intimacy. Anything like that. For you, it's just sex. Obnoxious and crude and disgusting sex."

"Excuse me?" Eileen hissed, her eyes holding a strange glint in them now.

"You heard me. It was your job to show me what it meant to be in a relationship. Model it so I'd see what it meant. Instead, you showed me the physical side solely. As a result, I have no idea how to do any of this. I can kiss her. I can sleep with her. But I can't be any deeper than that. Unless I stumble on it accidentally."

"What are you saying?" Eileen glanced between them.

"You're to blame for my being emotionally and relationship stunted. You never once fostered a pretend date with me to teach me what to do. Never once told me that it's okay to be an idiot and spill a drink on myself accidentally because I'm overcome by my feelings. You never once told me to just be myself and let go of all my worries. Not once. Instead, you went on about how I should realize that all women are the same."

Eileen scoffed. "No. What I said was that all sex is the same, Severus."

"Well, it's not, Mother," he snapped. "It is much different when it is with the woman you love than some stranger."

"Since when have you become so—"

"What? Sentimental? Non-robot like? Caring? Hmm?"

"Disobedient and crass," Eileen corrected, tapping her finger threateningly on her arm.

"You're the crass one. Not me."

Eileen rolled her eyes. "No. I speak the truth. There is a difference."

He shook his head and stared at her with a look of sheer disgust. "You never taught me love, Mother. All this time I've thought it to be a shameful thing. A weakness. Something to be exploited." He glanced down at Aurora, who was staring at him as if he had grown a third head. "I'd rather have lived these past six months with her than never to have lived at all. For years I believed it was Lily that I was meant to be. And if you had taught me at all about love, I'd have recognized that I didn't love Lily in the slightest and moved on."

With a bored look, Eileen drawled, "Are you finished yet, Severus? Or perhaps you'd like to blame me for you being a pain in the arse as well?"

"I'm serious, Mother."

"No. You're a whiny little brat," Eileen replied harshly. "And blind in addition."

Severus frowned. "How so?"

"Your assertion that your father and I never showed you what it's like to be in a relationship is purely idiotic." She glared at him when he opened his mouth. "I realize that we weren't around much in your life growing up, seeing as how your father and I were trying to make sure you didn't starve to death. However, that didn't mean we weren't ever there, Severus."

"Just what did I miss exactly?"

"Everything obviously," Eileen muttered. She then shook her head. "For centuries now, everyone's considered that to be loved means that you go through a stupid checklist based on societies' frivolous and idiotic views on it. One date a week and, bam, you're considered to be in true love. Or my personal favorite, giving tokens of affection to your loved one." She laughed harshly. "As if that is true love." She shook her head, her eyes softening slightly. "No, Severus. True love requires work. Effort on both of your parts. It requires patience. And, by the nine hells, it requires a little tears and blood at times." She glanced towards Aurora before turning back to her son. "So, your father and I didn't model a doting, love-struck couple who hung on every other's word. Life isn't like that, Severus. _Love_ isn't like that. Hell, sometimes when your father and I were fighting like cats and dogs . . ." Her voice trailed off for a moment. "None of that fighting between us meant that I didn't love Tobias. It was actually quite the opposite. It shows how deep our love is."

Severus stared at her in disbelief. That was love? All that yelling at all hours of the night? The words of anger filling the halls? That was love? He blinked, unable to comprehend. "I don't follow."

"If we didn't love each other, Severus, we'd have just gone through the motions like so many others. I'd have sat quietly by, not caring how sick your father was becoming from that damn mill. And he'd have sat silently in that damn chair of his as you and I starved to death. Instead, we fought. We argued. But deep down we knew what we were actually saying to each other was how much we love each other, how much we need each other, and how scared we were of losing each other. We did one thing, but we were saying much different things, Severus." She then stood a bit taller and sighed. "Clearly, the subtleties were lost on you, though."

"Well, apologies then that my brain wasn't fully developed yet to figure out such things," he replied snottily. At the feel of a sharp pain to his backside, he yelped and came up suddenly.

"Don't give me that look. You had it coming," Eileen remarked. "If you'll forgive me, I have much better things to do than to listen to you whine. Good night, brat." She then returned to her tent.

He huffed and laid back. When he noticed Aurora wasn't moving closer to him, he looked at her.

"I can't believe you," she softly said before she turned her back to him and settled in to sleep.

He frowned. Great. Just what was he missing now?

* * *

Much later, Severus continued his walk through the uneven dirt path of the surrounding woods a few hundred feet from the family campsite. Every now and then, he'd stop and pick up a few pieces of dry wood, but for the most part he merely kept walking around trying to figure out what exactly it was that he was missing.

He had so far decided that Aurora wasn't attempting to hurt him like so many others had. She clearly had some reason for being upset with him. He just couldn't for the life of him figure out what that reason was. Certainly, there was that little reason of him forgetting their date and lying to her about it, but she had stated earlier that he had somehow said something to make her forgive him. So it couldn't be her still mad about that. Unless she had been just saying that to spare hurting him. There was always that possibility, he figured.

At the sound of a twig snapping behind him, he whirled around, ready to attack. However, at the sight of Aurora approaching, he sighed and instantly relaxed.

"Are you finished sulking yet?" she asked mildly.

Severus bit back his growl of annoyance quickly.

"I'll take that as a no then." She shook her head slowly. "Severus, honestly."

"What?" he snapped, glaring at her.

"Will you—"

"No," he replied firmly, brushing off her obvious placating. "Just answer me. What is it?" He could feel his frustration rising quickly as she didn't reply. "Tell me." Still, she didn't answer. "How else am I supposed to fix this, Aurora, when I don't know what it is that I did wrong?"

"You know, for being a self-proclaimed genius, you're sometimes surprisingly dense," she finally said quietly.

"I can do without the insults. Now, answer me."

"Fine." She ran a hand through her dark curls, shaking her head. She clearly was fighting her inner voice for a moment before she finally spoke again. "You were a complete arse to your mother."

He blinked and stared at her. Of all the things he thought she'd say, that was not one of them.

"What?"

"You heard me. You were an arse to her, Severus." She huffed, shaking her head again before she sat down on a nearby fallen mossy log.

"I beg your pardon?" He scoffed, walking closer to Aurora with a look of disbelief on his face. "Did we meet the same woman? You saw her. Saw how she acted."

"Yes, but—"

"But nothing."

"But everything," she interrupted sharply. "You blamed her for everything under the sun instead of taking a step back and realizing that your mother did the best she could."

"You weren't there. You have no idea—"

"I wasn't there. You're right. But I have the insight of an outsider, and I can see things that you can't, Severus. And I'm telling you. Your mother did the best she could at the time. You told me not too long ago about all the sacrifices families in Cokeworth had to make over the years. Your family was the same way. Your parents worked long hours away from you, but that didn't mean they didn't love you."

"I never said—"

"You didn't have to. It was written all over your face when you were snapping at your mother."

He frowned and glanced away.

"They love you, Severus. Lots. I mean, why else would your parents have worked so hard over the years and been away from you?"

"You don't understand," he mumbled quietly, kicking the ground.

"What? I don't understand loneliness? Abandonment?"

His head jerked up as his eyes darted to her. "Everything's easy for you, Aurora."

She laughed harshly. "Is that right?" She shook her head. "I didn't realize that you almost dying before I could tell you my feelings was easy. My mistake."

"That's not what I meant."

"No, but it's what you said. Luckily, for you, I know the difference between what you say and what you mean."

He sighed and closed his eyes. This conversation was just getting worse as time went on. Rubbing at his temples, he drew in a slow, calming breath. His headache from earlier had increased exponentially.

"Your mother loves you, Severus. Think about all the crazy things she's done thus far. That stupid blond from the pub? Her comment about us sleeping together before we come here? Hell, I'd bet even her not coming out and showing you examples of love was her loving you."

"That makes no sense."

"Think about it. You've had to muddle your own way through what your definition of love is. So many of us learn through society's views instead of our own. I mean, if you compared us to a couple in one of my romance books, well, we'd be extremely boring compared to them. But, Severus, this is real. Our love is real. All that crap I read," she laughed. "You've shown me that everything I thought was romantic thanks to my books is, well, ridiculous. That common love depicted in literature is superficial. It's fake. Whereas you and I have a deeper bond, a deeper love that you can't describe. Our relationship isn't just about sex. It's more than that."

He stood there silently, staring at her. As stupid as it was, it felt like all the missing puzzle pieces were falling into place now.

"Our dates—oh, love—there are no words for them," she said with a soft smile, staring up at him. "It's the one time I see a part of you no else has ever seen before. The shy, sweet man you are."

"But I make a fool of myself," he said quietly.

"You're hardly alone in that, Severus. I mean, do you remember our first date?"

He hung his head. "I spilled elf-wine on your lap." It was not one of his finer moments. When he felt her gently prod his head back up, he glanced at her.

"And you apologized profusely and started to blot it so the dress wouldn't be stained. Hell, you even gave me your outer robes so I wouldn't be walking through the castle looking like a mess. Not a lot of men would do that. Trust me."

"Then, they're idiots," he mumbled.

"What happened on our second date?"

"I burnt the duck."

"Did I complain?"

"No, but—"

"Go beyond what went wrong, Severus. What went right with that date?"

He frowned but thought on it for a moment. The room had smelled like burned food, and they had eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. His eyes widened slightly as he recalled later that evening.

"I asked you to dance. You were reluctant, of course, but eventually you agreed," she said with a smile. "You made sure that we were about an arm's length away from each other, but I stumbled into you still somehow. You caught me and held me, asking if I was all right."

"And I brushed back a strand of your hair," he said quietly, recalling the scene vividly.

"Telling me how beautiful I was." She laughed. "And then you kissed me."

"Missing your lips entirely."

"Eh, eventually we found our way to each other's lips."

"After loads of kissing," he said with a chuckle, remembering her excuse for him at the time.

"Exactly." She smiled radiantly at him as she stood up. "Love's not perfect. It's messy and awkward at times, but if it's with the one you love, it's amazing. Truly."

He nodded slowly. "I apologize for not remembering."

"Oh, will you just forget about that damn date?" she said with a laugh. "It's fine. Really it is. You're slowly making me forget all about it anyway. Know why?"

He shook his head. "Honestly, I haven't a clue."

"Well, for one, you're being a big brat this weekend, but I'm assuming that's just because your mother's around. And two, you keep showing me that you want this to work." She laughed. "I mean, you've just spent the past four hours out here trying to figure out why I'm upset."

"Four hours? Has it really been that long?" It felt like it had only been an hour or two to him. Then again, he usually lost track of time when he was thinking.

"It has. Your dad sent me out here to make sure you hadn't fallen in a ravine or something."

"How thoughtful of him," he said dryly. He sighed when she rested a hand on his arm.

"Promise me something?"

He glanced back at her instantly. "Anything."

"You'll stop worrying about what can go wrong and just be happy."

"I don't want to lose you, Aurora."

"And I don't want to lose you either, Severus." She then laughed. "See? We have another thing in common. It _is_ true love," she said cheekily.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Charming."

"I'm serious, though. Don't worry and stop thinking so much for goodness sake. Otherwise, you're only going to see the things that didn't go perfectly than the good moments, the special times. See why we belong together."

"What if I do this wrong?"

"You will." His eyes widened. "And so will I. We're going to make mistakes. It's just something that happens in relationships. It's what we do afterwards that counts. All right? I promise you, Severus, that as long as you keep showing me you want this, it'll be all right."

"And if I don't?"

"Well, then I'll likely punch you," she deadpanned. "And then heal you afterwards."

He chuckled. "So violent."

"Thank you," she said laughing. "Honestly, though. It'll be fine. Just let go and stop worrying."

"I'll try."

"Thank you." She kissed his lips softly before resting her head against him. "That's all I ask. Now, how about you and I return to camping?"

"If we have to," he drawled smiling before leading her back. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

The following morning, he woke up and smiled as he glanced down at the messy dark curly-haired woman who had her head laying on his chest. He had to admit that his mood had changed since their talk last night. But then again, Aurora just had that odd effect about her. He couldn't explain it, but whenever she talked to him, he usually felt better, calmer afterwards.

Kissing the top of her head, he silently and carefully wiggled his way out from underneath her. He quietly left their tent a moment later and glanced towards his parents' tent. He bit back a sigh, turning away before he rifled through the bag of supplies looking for a pan. He found the stainless steel pan a second later and started to make breakfast for everyone.

Nearly thirty minutes later, he heard the first rustle of a tent flap opening. He glanced towards the sound and watched his mother emerge not long after. He bowed his head to her before he turned back to the pan.

"Morning," Eileen quietly said as she sat across from him.

"Morning, Mother," he replied just as soft.

"Eggs?"

"Pancakes actually."

"Ah." She then glanced in the pan. "I suppose that passes."

"High praise indeed."

She didn't respond. Instead, she grabbed a cup of hot coco and took a drink. He watched her out of the corner of his eye for a few moments before he sighed softly.

"Mother?"

"Yes?" She didn't look towards him.

"I apologize for my earlier words. My outburst was entirely uncalled for." He glanced down before he forced his head back up. "I should not have said any of that. It was my fault, not yours."

"Oh?" She finally turned to him. "Glad to see that Aurora can talk some sense into you."

He bit back his snarky reply and drew in a slow breath. "Thank you, Mum."

She jerked her head slightly before she continued sipping her coco.

He flipped the pancakes once more, letting the silence fall around them. He listened to the sounds in the forest. The twigs snapping as woodland animals moved around. The wind whistling through the tall trees. The birds singing nearby. He sighed after minutes of hearing all the normally peaceful noises.

"I love her, Mum," he said quietly.

"I know you do."

He glanced at her and smiled slightly. "She's a good person."

"I would certainly hope so."

"She's so strong."

"Obviously," Eileen replied with a bored tone.

"She was the one who found me last May. I don't know how she did it, but she wouldn't back down when Pomfrey refused to treat me. She somehow forced Pomfrey to do it."

"A woman in love can be very persuasive when the man she cares for is dying, Severus."

"Yeah." He smiled as he glanced at the tent he knew Aurora was sleeping inside. "I love her. So much."

His mother sighed heavily. "Then why don't you just marry her already?"

He nearly about dropped the pan. His head snapped back, and his eyes widened. "What?"

"Well, clearly, you love the girl. So just marry her, Severus."

"I-I can't just ask her _that_." His voice raised slightly.

"Why not?"

"Because." He frowned when he saw his mother's eyebrow raise. "Because we've only been together for six months."

"If some other man decided to waltz into her life, what would you do?"

"Trust her."

Eileen waved her hand dismissively. "And?"

"What do you mean, 'And?"

"I sincerely doubt you'd just trust her, Severus." Eileen rolled her eyes. "I'd imagine you'd do some asinine male ritual of chest thumping to get him to realize that she's yours. Correct?"

"I wouldn't call it chest thumping," he replied quietly. "But you're probably right."

"Of course I'm right. I'm your mother. I know everything."

He smiled and wisely just nodded.

"So, you can either punch him, which may or may not work in your favor with her, or you can preemptively ensure that scenario never happens and just ask her to marry you now."

"What if she says no?"

"Oh dear god," Eileen groaned.

"What? That's a possibility."

"Yes, so is dying tomorrow, Severus. You'll never get anywhere if you don't take risks."

"Well, unfortunately for you, Mother, I've had a lifetime of risks in my life, and I'd rather play it safe now when it comes to my love life."

"Then you'll lose her."

He frowned before he shook her head. "No. I realize that to be in a relationship means that you have to take risks every now and then, but I don't want to pressure her."

Eileen snorted instantly. "Oh, love. I doubt you'll be pressuring her. The girl hangs off your every word practically. It's in her eyes." She then shrugged. "Not to mention, she willingly came with you to meet us. A certain sign given to her that means you consider her worthy."

He blinked slightly. "I never considered that was why she was . . . oh."

"What now?"

"When I suggested we come here, she was bouncing off the walls. I never considered that as a sign of my showing her that I'm committed to us."

"Fascinating," Eileen drawled.

"So I should ask her then."

"Only if you believe you are ready to settle down, Severus."

He frowned again. "You're not really helping me, Mother."

"Thankfully, it's not my job to help you anymore. You're an adult now. Make your own decisions. And do whatever feels right to you. That's all that matters in the end."

He glanced at her. "Is that why you married Dad?"

"That, and it pissed off my mother." Eileen shrugged.

He scoffed and shook his head. He then glanced back at his tent. Was he ready to ask Aurora to marry him? He had never thought about marriage before. It had always been a far off dream that likely never would happen in his mind. But here it was. He was certain he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He was certain that it'd kill him if she was with any other man. But did that mean he was ready for marriage? To tie his soul with hers forever?

He sighed and thought on it for a good long while. It'd kill him if she was with some other man. Jealousy was an emotion he always had difficult controlling. No one would be good enough for her but him. At least that was his thought. But then again she wasn't property or something he could control. Then there was the fact that he loved her. A pretty big part actually to consider he decided. Yet, he knew love was fickle. And this was marriage. Something permanent.

He almost missed that his lips had curled upwards at the word 'permanent.' Would it be so bad to be married to her for life? To wake up with her resting her head on his chest and curled around him like ferns to a warm patch? To hear her drone on about her stars and all the wonders of them? To have to cook all the meals to ensure they didn't die of food poisoning or worse? To hear her nag him about how he spends more time with his damn potions than her? Would that be so bad?

No. That sounded like paradise to him actually.

"You look like an idiot," his mother remarked sharply, yanking him out of his thoughts instantly.

He growled under his breath and glared at her. "Your attempts at ruining this moment for me will fail miserably."

"What moment? All I see is you staring off and grinning like a mad man at a pair of butterflies."

He huffed and stood up. She was not going to ruin this. Not when he finally woke up and saw the stars and cauldrons.

"Good day, Mother," he hissed before heading back towards the tent he was sharing with Aurora.

"No need to get snippy with me. I'm not the one who has cold feet."

He whirled around. "I do not have cold feet!" His voice stopped instantly when he heard the rustle of the tent flap behind him. He slowly turned to greet Aurora who had clearly just woken up.

"If your feet are cold, then sit by the fire with me," Aurora drowsily said, fighting back a yawn. "You can show me those more things you were talking about last night." S'mores she meant, he knew.

He heard his mother's soft laughs instantly. Of course she'd find that funny. The hag.

"I'd like that, but first I have to do something," he replied quietly. He had to do this right. Romantic in other words. He had seen firsthand with Septima Vector, how she had bragged for weeks to anyone who would listen, that proposing the right way seemed to be just something he'd have to do so Aurora too would get her moment. Without thinking, he knelt down on one knee in front of her.

"Aurora?"

"Hmm?" she replied, covering yet another yawn with the back of her hand. As he paused to gather his thoughts, she pulled the blanket further around her as she sat on a fallen log.

"I have something to ask you. Something that if I don't get out now I'll never do."

She sighed unexpectedly. "I should've known."

He blinked. What was she talking about?

"And here I thought you were different," she mumbled.

"_Excuse me_?" he growled, his temper getting the better of him. "Just what the hell does _that_ mean?"

"You know perfectly well what it means, you arse," she frowned. "If I've told you once, I've told you a million times. The answer is no. I will not live my life like that. And especially not with you."

"Oh?" he hissed. "I didn't realize I was that bad."

"You're not." She sighed, shaking her head. "That's not what I mean, and you know it too."

"Oh, do I?" He sneered. Why on earth had he thought marrying her was a good idea? The half-twit. There were plenty of other women. Worthier ones than her. How could he have been so wrong?

"Yes!" She threw her arms up into the air. "Circe."

He leaned towards her, pausing when he heard the loud laughs of his mother echoing around. He would not be the butt of anyone's joke anymore. And least of all Aurora's.

"I'll have you know, you insufferable woman, I was two seconds away from asking you to—"

"Run away with you far from the Wizarding world and your parents and practically everyone else in the world," she interrupted exasperatedly. "Yes, I know. We've been through this a million times before."

He blinked, unable to speak.

"And my answer remains the same," she continued, not noticing his dumbfounded look. "I will not live our lives in fear of what ifs, running away from everyone just on a whim. Nor am I going to go back to pretending that we're just coworkers. Do you hear me?" She raised her chin up defiantly. "I love you, you idiot. I don't know why. Circe only knows that but I love you. So you're just going to have to put your big boy pants on and deal with it. We're not hiding anymore. Got it? And if anyone has a problem with us being together, then they deserve a swift kick in the arse."

He couldn't hold back his smile at her words any longer. There was the fierce witch he knew.

"Hear, hear," his mother said amused behind him.

"We are done with that life, Severus. No more running. No more hiding. We did our parts and now we need to get on with our lives. The end." Aurora's head bobbed forward in emphasis before she inhaled deeply, as if casting off all their bad past.

He quickly forced his smile back and raised his eyebrow at her. Aurora honestly had no clue that they were talking about different things. It was rather comical in a sad way.

"Are you finished? Or shall I wait for you to drone on more?" he drawled, barely hiding back his smirk. He nearly chuckled when he saw Aurora's look of annoyance instantly. Sometimes she was too easy to rile up. But oh was she beautiful angry.

"I'm warning you," she said quietly with a dangerous look in her eyes. "If you argue with me, I'm punching you."

He shrugged. "If we are not to run away with each other, then how on earth are we ever to spend our wedding night together?" He then smirked at the sight of her confusion. "Unless you wish for us to spend it with my mother, no doubt, adding commentary and giving us insight on different techniques?"

"What?"

"Techniques. As in different positions and manners that one would likely find in _Kama Sutra_." He glanced briefly at his mother noticing her smile. "A book I'm sure she has for just an occasion."

"A wedding gift," his mother confirmed. "We've had it for you since you were eighteen. It's probably in need of a good dusting obviously."

"Of course," he replied with a forced smile while envisioning his mother's death a hundred different ways.

"Wait. What?" Aurora stared at him, swallowing slowly. "What?"

He smiled, gently taking her hands. "This weekend was nothing like I imagined it to be."

"Nor what she thought either, I'd imagine," his mother added from the background.

"I admit that I've never considered marriage with you."

"Oh, son," his father chimed in with an obvious wince.

"Will you two shut it?" Severus snapped, glaring at his parents. "I can do without the peanut gallery after all."

"No. No you really can't." Tobias shook his head and sighed. "But go on then."

"Thank you." Severus turned back. "Before they interrupt yet again and ruin this," he inhaled deeply, "will you be mine?"

"Your what?" Eileen called out.

He growled under his breath. Honestly. "Will you do me the honor of marrying me?"

"Oh boy," Tobias muttered.

"What?" he snapped, whirling around. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"Yeah, if you're not some poor smuck who falls for it. 'Do you the honor.' Might as well be in the Stone Age with that. Not to mention it sounds like you're wanting a dowry from her."

"Fine." He clenched his jaw. "Will you, Aurora Sinistra, marry me?" He caught Aurora's smile right away and felt the earlier tension slowly melt away.

"I will."

"You will what, silly girl?" Eileen asked.

"Oh hush you two," Aurora said with a laugh, not bothering to glance at them. Her eyes remained solely on Severus. "You're ruining our moment."

"Huh? What moment?"

"I don't know. I don't see a moment. Do you, Tobias?"

Severus opened his mouth to snarl some _kind_ words at his parents, only to be cut off with Aurora's lips. He nearly fell back from the force she used. He wasn't worried though. Nothing actually mattered anymore. Just her. Kissing him.

"Love?" Eileen said softly several moments later as they remained kissing deeply. "I know you don't want your father and I to ruin this cliché moment of yours. But—"

"You're kneeling in bear crap, son."


End file.
